A sharrow lane marker indicates that bikes and vehicles share the same lane on a Downtown Indianapolis street. / Indianapolis Star

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Come Friday, hundreds of Hoosiers will leave their cars at home and make their commute to work in Downtown Indianapolis on a bicycle. It’s Bike to Work Day, so drivers, this is your official warning: Beware.

People who normally would be too chicken to try the bike lanes nestled alongside rush-hour traffic on Lafayette Road or East Washington Street will find the courage to do so in a group.

Others, emboldened by knowledge that drivers will be on the lookout for cyclists citywide that day, will make their commutes alone.

Many riders will follow the rules of the road. Many will not.

They’ll run red lights and stop signs. They’ll go the wrong way down one-way streets. They’ll take to the sidewalk to avoid a particularly grimy section of roadway or to slip by stopped cars.

In many ways, Friday will be a microcosm of what happens every day in Indianapolis. Indeed, it happens all over the country as more and more people take to urban streets with their bicycles.

Cities such as New York and Chicago, where about 20,000 people ride to work regularly, have started cracking down on law-breaking bike riders.

Here in Indianapolis? Not so much. At least not yet.

It’s true we don’t have nearly as many bikes on our roads as some of the cities grappling with this problem, but with the completion of the Cultural Trail, more bike lanes going in across Marion County and more people living near Downtown, we will.

“The problem is education and enforcement,” said Kevin Whited, executive director of INDYCOG, which organizes Bike to Work Day. “It’s amazing how many people, whether it’s a homeless guy or a yuppie girl riding to work on the Cultural Trail, don’t know that they have to stop at red lights.”

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Just to be clear, people on bikes should follow the same laws as people in cars. That means obeying all traffic signals and other rules of the road. It also means generally staying off sidewalks that should be reserved for pedestrians.

Notice I used the word “should.”

Reality is more like what I recently did on the short commute from my house just north of Downtown to The Indianapolis Star. I rolled through two stop signs and one red light because there was no traffic, and then jumped onto two sidewalks — one to avoid speeding cars on Central Avenue and the other because Alabama Street is filled with potholes.

I don’t do this often. But I remember the time I ran a red light in front of a police car. The cop didn’t bat an eye.

Other riders do this sort of thing all the time, especially Downtown, where the stoplights are timed. The lunchtime delivery guys are notorious for this and much, much worse.

The fact is, people on bikes can get away with doing things that they would never do in a car. And there is little to no fear of punishment.

That said, it’s not like police don’t give people tickets. They do. Whited said INDYCOG and police also have run a joint campaign to pull over law-breaking cyclists and give them warnings.

The enforcement is just inconsistent.

“I once saw a guy riding the wrong way down a street, go through a red light, and the

cop waved him through the intersection,” Whited said.

“I was like, ‘What just happened?’”

Some of this is pure ignorance. We don’t teach people how to ride bicycles on the street. A lot of cyclists don’t understand they have to obey traffic laws, too.

Part of me hates to be the one calling for a crackdown on cyclists because, let’s face it, I’ll probably end up with a ticket.

But eventually, something has to be done. Because right now, it’s annoying. A year from now, when bike commuting becomes even more common, it will be downright dangerous.